Every year, EFF has lawyers with its Coders’ Rights Project on hand in Las Vegas at Black Hat, B-Sides and DEF CON for security researchers with legal questions about their research or presentations. EFF’s Coders’ Rights Project protects programmers, researchers, hackers, and developers engaged in cutting-edge exploration of technology. Security and encryption researchers help build a safer future for all of us using digital technologies, but too many legitimate researchers face serious legal challenges that prevent or inhibit their work.

The 2017 summer security conference legal team will include:

Staff Attorney Kit Walsh, who works on exemptions protecting security research and vehicle repair, along with a host of other beneficial activities threatened by Section 1201, the anti-circumvention provision of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

Criminal Defense Staff Attorney Stephanie Lacambra, a former Federal and San Francisco Public Defender who has turned her expertise toward defending your civil liberties online.

Deputy Executive Director and General Counsel Kurt Opsahl, who leads the Coders’ Rights Project and has been helping security researchers present at the summer security conferences since DEF CON was at the Alexis Park.

If you are wondering about whether your research came into a legal gray area, or concerned that the vendor will threaten legal action, please reach out to info@eff.org. All EFF legal consultations are pro bono (free), part of our commitment to help the security researcher community. You can also stop by the EFF booths at each conference to make an appointment with one of our attorneys, though we highly recommend contacting us as far in advance of your talk as possible.

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